from the using-bullshit-ends-to-justify-the-means dept

The Senate Torture Report has officially been released. Accompanying it is a 6-page statement containing "highlights" from the 525-page "Executive Summary" of the (obviously much larger) full report. (We'll have more once we've dug through the larger report.)

The statement [pdf link], put together by Sen. Feinstein's office, opens with this quote from the Senate Intelligence Committee head:

This document examines the CIA’s secret overseas detention of at least 119 individuals and the use of coercive interrogation techniques—in some cases amounting to torture.

The delineation between "torture" and "coercive interrogation techniques" will be left up to many, many dissemblers. Those who defend the CIA's actions will opt for the former, presumably in long opinion pieces hosted at CIASavedLives.com, a website created solely for countering the negative press that will follow the release of the Torture Report. The site is still mostly dead at this point, occasionally humming to half-life with a bit of pre-emptive flag waving. (LITERALLY)

But the actions contained in this short summary certainly meet any reasonable definition of the word "torture."

In November 2002 a detainee who had been held partially nude and chained to a concrete floor died from suspected hypothermia at the facility.

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Sleep deprivation involved keeping detainees awake for up to 180 hours, usually standing or in painful stress positions, at times with their hands shackled above their heads. The CIA led several detainees to believe they would never be allowed to leave CIA custody alive, suggesting to one detainee that he would only leave in a coffin-shaped box.

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CIA detainees at one detention facility, described as a “dungeon,” were kept in complete darkness and constantly shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music and only a bucket to use for human waste.

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Contrary to CIA representations to the Department of Justice, the waterboarding technique was physically harmful, inducing convulsions and vomiting. During one session, Abu Zubaydah became “completely unresponsive with bubbles rising through his open full mouth.” Internal CIA records describe the waterboarding of Khalid Shaykh Mohammad as evolving into a “series of near drownings.”

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[T]he CIA instructed personnel that the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah would take “precedence” over his medical care, resulting in the infection and deterioration of a bullet wound Abu Zubaydah incurred during his capture.

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At least five CIA detainees were subjected to “rectal feeding” or “rectal hydration” without documented medical need.

All of this (and there's much more documented in the full report) and for what? To save lives, as the URL goes? But there's no evidence this torture resulted in usable intelligence.

The committee reviewed 20 of the most frequent and prominent examples of purported counterterrorism “successes” that the CIA has attributed to the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques. Each of those examples was found to be wrong in fundamental respects. In some cases, there was no relationship between the claimed counterterrorism “success” and any information provided by a CIA detainee during or after the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques. In the remaining cases, the CIA inaccurately represented that unique information was acquired from a CIA detainee as a result of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, when in fact the information was either (a) acquired from the CIA detainee prior to the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques or (b) corroborative of information already available to the intelligence community from sources other than the CIA detainee, and therefore not unique or “otherwise unavailable...”

The CIA took these lies went all the way to the top.

In an attempt to justify the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, the CIA provided examples of supposedly “thwarted” terrorist plots and the capture of specific terrorists that the CIA attributed to the use of its techniques. The CIA representations were inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA’s own records. The CIA’s internal Panetta Review also identified numerous inaccuracies in the CIA’s effectiveness representations—including representations to the President.

And when the CIA wasn't lying about the techniques being necessary to stay ahead of "ticking time bombs," it was lying about its methods.

Records do not support CIA representations that the CIA initially used an “an open, non-threatening approach,” or that interrogations began with the “least coercive technique possible” and escalated to more coercive techniques only as necessary. Instead, in many cases the most aggressive techniques were used immediately, in combination and nonstop.

It's not just the US that will have to weather this debacle -- one that gives lie to the government's view that it holds itself to higher standard than its enemies -- it's every other country that participated in the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.

The real question following the release of this report is whether anyone will be held accountable for these deplorable actions. There needs to be meaningful punishments handed down. If not, then the rest of the world will know how much we're willing to let our agencies get away with during this neverending War on Terror. Failing to do so will only open the door for further abuse.

Reader Comments

Of course they will be held accountable

Expect the most heroic and patriotic Dr Mengeles, those whose pseudonyms would have occured again and again in the report, to be awarded promotions and medals for excelling in the relentless pursuit of their work, making the U.S. a country unique among countries. They are what America stands for today proudly among nations and will be rewarded for their active role in shaping the country's future.

Torture Report and Drone Strikes

Exposing the CIA unethical practices is to be commended. Such acts undermine our freedom and way of life and by default do the terrorists' bidding by undermining those hard won freedoms.

Currenly however we have the drone programme which kills innocence and is not acceptable for many reasons not least the protocols to target with collateral damage. Article by Washington Post is linked below. We need to speak out against today's objections and crimes by the Executive and its agents.

Re: Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

~Legalized the indefinite detention of US citizens without trial.~Authorized the use of the military against the US people on US soil.~Belligerently prosecuted whistle-blowers without ever meaningfully addressing any of the wrong doing they expose.~Massively expanded warrantless wiretapping of innocent Americans.~Supported the militarization of civilian law enforcement.~Spied on and attempted to intimidate journalists in the name of national security.

But you're right, my favorite one by far is that he gave himself the power to "legally" kill American citizens without trial.

Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

"11) The report’s conclusion that torture didn’t do any good is a big deal. "

Not to me. If the torture were 100% effective, it wouldn't matter one bit as to whether or not torture was acceptable. Therefore, while the effectiveness might be of some intellectual interest, it has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not torture is OK.

Re: Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

It is a "big deal" in that the CIA has repeatedly claimed that this program was essential, useful, etc. Formally finding that it was useless is valuable as an additional indictment of the CIA's officers and methods. It was wrong regardless of whether it was useful, but they look even worse when you take into account that they didn't even get any National Security/Intelligence value out of their wrongdoing.

Re: Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

I agree with you.

...and apparently, so does Froomkin...

"11) The report’s conclusion that torture didn’t do any good is a big deal. You may argue, as I do, that even if torture sometimes “worked”, it’s still immoral, criminal and ultimately counterproductive. As I wrote during the “Zero Dark Thirty” furor, torture is not about extracting information, it’s about power, revenge, rage and cruelty. It’s about stripping people of their humanity. Throughout its history, its only reliable byproduct has been false confessions. But the pro-torture argument is simple: The ends justify the means. So if the evidence is overwhelming that torture achieves nothing — or less than nothing — then we win the argument by default."

Re: Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

Your moral here is humanistic and non-discriminatory which is admirable.

The classic moral story is that to hurt someone to save lives is an acceptable exchange. Doing damage to prevent greater damage is a very common principle in laws.

Now, by confirming that no unique information came from any of the studied cases that escalation provention logic is gone, thus leaving the classic moral for justifying torture in the dust. Sure, human rights organisations have been saying it for the last century, but this report has a lot more press and will hopefully finally start to blow that illusion.

Re: Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

>it has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not torture is OK.

If you mean 'OK' as ethical, it can vary based on your preference of deontology or consequentialism. The former means the act itself is right or wrong, the latter means act's morality is determined by its effects.

Since it isn't effective, neither ethical theory justifies it. If it was it could be justified.

Re: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report

6) Is the essential point to me. This report does not deal with the scores of people incarcerated and tortured in military custody, over 100 died, it only deals with the tiny fraction of cases which provably happened under the CIA's direct control.

Yet in the eyes of the public the torture program has been investigated, any further demands for investigation will be met with "duh, we have a report already".

Here is what amazes me...

It is not that there are governmental leaders willing to allow this kind of thing. What amazes me is that there are so many people fulling willing to carry out such deeds. It was the same with the government shutdown, though on a much lower scale. There were people willing to close down private business for being on federal land, people willing to kick an elderly couple out of their home on federal land, people willing to close down open air memorials and people willing to lock tourists into the Yellowstone lodge during Old Faithfuls eruption.

I can see one or a few people willing to give such orders; but how are there so many people willing to carry them out?

Re: Here is what amazes me...

Because if you don't follow orders, you lose your job; or in the military, go to jail. Few people will risk their own security to protect another's security, esp. when the other person is viewed as a horrible, evil, murderer.

Re: Here is what amazes me...

I can see one or a few people willing to give such orders; but how are there so many people willing to carry them out?

Fear. Fear can make people do horrible things.

In this case, two kinds of fear are in play.

The first is the irrational and largely baseless fear of terrorists. US citizens are far more likely to be killed by their own police forces than by terrorists -- particularly if they're black, since it's pretty obvious by now that police would have to use a noose and wear hoods to even stand a small chance of indictment. But that's not what people believe: to a good first approximation, they believe that ISIS is going to invade Topeka any day now.

The second is fear of failure. Nobody wants to be the one who missed another 9/11. Nobody wants it to happen on their watch. Nobody is willing to tell the American people that another 9/11 is absolutely, completely unavoidable -- should anyone wish to execute an attack on that scale. Nobody wants to be the one to tell us to stop being such wimps and accept that -- every once in a while -- we're going to take a punch. And that it's going to hurt.

Our founders would be embarrassed by this, I think. They expected courage out of everyday citizens, not just the military. They expected us to hang onto what they gave us ("A republic -- if you can keep it") and not give it up so easily after a mere pinprick of an attack. They expected us to stand on principle, to recognize that if we let those go too many times, then we're not really the United States any more.

I fear that it might too late. In the blind panic of the last decade plus, we've invaded multiple countries, set up a surveillance apparatus that would make Stasi envious, militarized the police, allowed raw greed to crash the economy and devastate millions...and tortured helpless prisoners. We own that. I, as an American citizen, own that.

And I'm simultaneously horrified and humiliated that it was done in my name.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Here is what amazes me...

That's not how it worked. We didn't restrain ourselves because the Soviet Union might scold us or get mad at us. We restrained ourselves because we wanted the rest of the world to think we were morally superior to them.

Re: Here is what amazes me...

What amazes me is that there are so many people fulling willing to carry out such deeds.

It's the ultimate power trip and you have been given a justification for leaving your conscience at home.

It's like people who get to experience the thrills of extreme dangers when they get left by their wife or equivalent: they are no longer responsible to anyone and can test their limits because they are free to die.

Just that in this case, they are free to torture and kill and will be considered patriots and heroes for it. Heroes, yes, I kid you not. For torturing and killing people while being in a position of power. This abominable tripe is indeed spewed by officials in high places, including the despicable spineless Nobel Peace prize laureate we have the shame to have for a president.

i doubt very much that anyone will even be questioned over what was happening and that is very troubling! the next very troubling thing is that the UK has already started to use the same ploys as the USA, trying to get people to believe that there have been numerous terrorist plots foiled because of the surveillance done by GCHQ and interrogation carried out by security forces! the thing that is so damning of what the USA has been doing, apart from the obvious things mentioned is that it still condemns other countries for doing the same things it has been doing ie for removing/not giving any freedom or privacy! add in how the example shown is openly being used by other nations that previously would never have thought about doing! making nations that are supposed to be upright, forthright decent into terrorist-like nations, the very type being fought against, is nothing to be proud of!!

Evil

Torture is evil. You can try to explain it away any way you like. That does not change the fact that torture is evil. torture is also specifically against numerous fundamental laws and practices. The reason why it is not tolerated, is because there will always be retributions. We as humans always assume our hurt and pain is more real than someone else's and respond with an escalation of pain and hurt.

This is wrong right from the start. You cannot gain anything valuable enough to justify using these heinous acts on people without proving that our enemies are correct in their cries.

If someone kidnapped some of our top leaders and officials and tortured, maimed and killed many of them in an attempt to find out what kind of plans we had against them, what do you think our response would be. This is exactly what is happening in the name of "Justice".

We do not have a moral leg to stand on when these are the kind of things that the public is allowed to find out about with dire warnings about further leaks of the TRUTH. When the truth scares you, you have done wrong.

No justice

What has been difficult for decades, is to observe those who emerge from the woodwork to praise crimes against humanity using every rhetorical trick in the book, including lying in the face of the evidence. The authoritarian streak in Anerican culture has helped foster pervasive police brutality, and won't be perturbed by torture, no matter the extent or motive.

>There needs to be meaningful punishments handed down. If not, then the rest of the world will know how much we're willing to let our agencies get away with during this neverending War on Terror.

Pfffft. The other governments will only feign disapproval because of how bad it will make them look to their own people. If no one has figured it out now, there's nothing stopping the US government from getting what it wants and who is going to held them accountable? The President? The UN? there's no one that an alphabet agency truly has to be accountable to, and that's the scary part.

The Main Point to Take Away From the Report

In an attempt to justify the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, the CIA provided examples of supposedly “thwarted” terrorist plots and the capture of specific terrorists that the CIA attributed to the use of its techniques. The CIA representations were inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA’s own records. The CIA’s internal Panetta Review also identified numerous inaccuracies in the CIA’s effectiveness representations—including representations to the President.

This sums it all up. The CIA knew torture didn't work in getting information, but lied about the results so the agency could continue to torture.This means the purpose of the torture wasn't to get information, the purpose of torture was torture.

interrogation

Seems interrogation is worse than murder!? Not one liberal reporter ever mentioned what those fellow americans who died on 9/11 went through! Nevertheless their families? Remember how we were all together after 9/11? And now we complain? Why even report it to begin with? More liberal b.s. why not tortore them how many did they kill? How. many did the cia kill with torture? Be. glad the cia did what they did! I am! Liberals will lead this country to its early death.

Re: interrogation

david, your divisiveness is a part of the problem, entrenching the bipartisanship that stops us getting anything done. This catalog of shame is ALREADY a partisan football and Nine (Applause). Eleven (Standing ovation). Isn't going to make things any better.

Giving terrorist recruiters more ammo may well have been the object of the exercise; what's the point of having a massive military capability if there's nobody to fight?

War is good for business. We have a military-INDUSTRIAL-complex for a reason, remember that.

Re: interrogation

Wow, where to begin. 9/11 was a tragedy. That doesn't mean you get to violate the Law of Armed Warfare because it's convenient. Our military members have been fighting a war and still are required to follow the high road, even when it's hard, even when they killed your best friend, even when you're angry.

It's disgraceful to those men and women who have been fighting and doing the right thing (and, contrary to popular belief, the soldiers that murder and torture are in the minority). It's a slap in the face, one that says "you're going to do things the right way while people are watching, but because nobody can see us we're going to break the rules."

By saying that you agree with the CIA's actions, by having that mentality, you are ignoring the principles of freedom and justice the Constitution was founded on. The ends do not justify the means.

Let me ask you something. Why would you want this information hidden? The report establishes two very important things: a) that the CIA engaged in torture, and b) the torture was ineffective. Got that? The CIA torture program did nothing to save American lives. And they knew it!

Even if it did, the United States does not stoop the our enemy's level. We're better than that, and we'll win regardless. But it's up to the American people to police our own government, as the Founding Fathers intended. How can we do that if the government is lying to us? Hiding things from us? And we allow it to continue?

It's complacent, ignorant, childish people like you that will bring the country to an early death. Liberals and conservatives have nothing to do with it.

Incongruency

Looking through the torture report, there's an interesting euphemism for lying: "This statement is incongruent with internal CIA documents." Forty-two statements are said to be incongruent with internal CIA documents.

Snowflake - Hell

(A random thought funnelled from someone in the white house via the Thought Stealing Device of Peabody (TM)...)

"We let these guys suffer legal punishments for their crimes, and the public will expect similar or greater punishments for the rest of us should we be caught. Moreover, the very notion that federal agents could be held responsible for their criminal actions would enable public and legal scrutiny into agency activities like never before due to the belief that it would be worth the effort to root out the bad guys. Much better that the public continues to believe that there is no-one they can turn to and that apathy is the best effort they can summon to deal with their disgust and lack of hope."

(The little meter on the side of the Device says its likely not anyone in the White House with the initials B.O..)

The threat of dealing out punishment to the traditionally protected tri-letter agency members would hamper the ability of such tri-letter agencies' to steal from, lie to and murder anyone they desired with impunity, far into the future and make it far more difficult to attract the necessary criminal types essential to so many of the officially sanctioned and extremely lucrative criminal activities currently underway.

While the Most Transparent Administration In American History might eventually hang a single individual (guaranteed to be someone they don't like, who did not actually do any wrong) out to dry in the winds of public opinion, that individual will suffer no more than that - public disgrace and a slapped wrist.

Of course, the $250,000 deposited into the off shore account in payment and the beach-side villa in Puerto Rico with Hot and Cold running bimbos and the freezer full of cocaine, should more than compensate for that disgrace.